The present invention relates to a granular biomass burning heating system. Any type of granular biomass can be used as fuel. Grains, such as corn and wheat, have become popular fuel sources for furnaces and stoves. Various stoves and furnaces of a type to burn such materials are known.
In any type of solid fuel burning system, regardless of the type of fuel being used, it is desired to increase the efficiency of the system so that the amount of heat produced and utilized by the system is relatively high. It is further desired to decrease the lag time between unit start up and when heat is evident to the user. Further, some known biomass fuel furnaces have problems with incomplete burning of the fuel. Therefore it is desirable to provide a biomass furnace which provides for complete burning of the fuel.
One of the problems associated with some grain burning heating systems is back burning. Many granular biomass burning heating systems include an auger-type fuel feed. Back burning occurs when fuel located in this auger begins to burn before it is introduced to the burn pot. It is desirable to provide a granular biomass burning heating system with a fuel feed designed to prevent back burning.
Some known biomass furnaces have problems associated with the controls. For example, the heat of the furnace can be difficult to control. It is therefore desirable to provide a user friendly furnace, which utilizes a computer control unit to function on its own with very little human intervention. It is further desirable to provide a system which utilizes a smart logic thermal controller to reduce the human intervention necessary to keep the output of the furnace at a consistent or desirable temperature.
Additional problems included fly ash build up in previous furnaces. Fly ash can decrease the efficiency of the system, so it is desirable to include a way to remove the build up of ash from a biomass furnace. Additionally, incomplete combustion can clog the system by creating clinkers, or hardened lumps of unburned material, and can also decrease efficiency. Therefore it is desirable provide a biomass furnace which removes clinkers and also promotes complete combustion.
Although many designs for granular biomass burning heating systems have been considered, improved designs are continually being sought to improve the technology. It is an object to the present invention to provide a novel granular biomass burning heating system.